Comments

1. 
   makinentry | Dec 26, 2017 09:20pm | #1

   Loved this series!

2. 
   pbernhardt | Jan 06, 2018 10:58am | #2

   Probably the best series I've watched on FW in a long, long time. Particularly liked Ep11 where he shows the different ways to finish the surface using a drawknife, sloyd knife, gouges and a spokeshave. One thing I did wonder here is whether or not he ever uses card scrapers as would be my naive inclination to refine the surface. And you gotta love how he takes a moment to acknowledge a Cardinal singing outside while he works. Pure joy.

3. 
   anonmt | Jan 16, 2018 01:16am | #3

   Such a great series!
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4. 
   user-6803980 | Jan 21, 2018 09:18am | #4

   pbernhardt: Thank you for your comment. You could certainly use card scrapers to create a smooth surface on the interior or exterior of a bowl. Just another choice. I have used them for a few bowls where I wanted a very smooth interior. And you can easily grind custom curves. Here's one example at my blog https://davidffisherblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/turning-without-a-lathe/

5. 
   user-2431591 | Dec 26, 2018 11:27am | #5

   This is a very good series. Thank you. It's a real pleasure and privilege to watch David Fisher working and to hear his views.

   My only negative comment - and I'm really sad to have to make it - is that we don't see David sharpening his tools. Sharpening simply isn't portrayed as an integral part of the work. David comments that a safe tool is a sharp tool, says that sharpening a draw knife is a deep subject and shows how he strops a gouge for the final surface finishing. But there's a general implication that the series will show how to carve a bowl given sharp tools. Most likely an editorial decision. To my mind that's just not good enough. For two reasons.

   One, it leaves any inexperienced woodworker (I guess a significant proportion of the audience) out on a limb with their tools. You may argue that sharpening woodworking tools needs a separate set of videos and point the viewer to any of several of these. But we're not just taking about sharpening a chisel or a plane blade. And we're not just interested in the many personal variants of sharpening methods. I want to see David sharpening his ax, adze and drawknife at the very least. These are specialised tools and the work David demonstrates so wonderfully needs the best possible level of sharpness, maintained throughout the process with a lttle touching up. I want to see him doing that.
   Two, using a tool with the skill and sensitivity demonstrated here necessarily involves having developed a relationship with that particular tool. This includes respect and a continual awareness of the nature of the cutting edge: how sharp, how well does this particular tool hold its edge, how does the bevel relate to the work being done?... and so on. To my mind, FW and the experts whose help they enlist should be aiming to educate woodworkers to develop this awareness as an integral part of their work, NOT as a separate subject.

   Now I can't imagine for a moment that David himself doesn't have a little bell ringing in his head telling him all this. So come on FW, let's see if you can do something about it.

   This long series and has us enthralled throughout. Another half or full episode on the specifics of sharpening the tools we see here would have greatly improved the result. Maybe David could be persuaded to add a complementary video at this late date. That would be the best option, to my mind.

   Alternatively, maybe FW could go a little way to addressing these criticisms by assembling a short reference list of previous articles from the magazine with a brief comment on the integral nature of sharpening and touching up these edge tools. That's the soft option. The challenge is there.